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University of Wyoming

Tom Osborne

◊ Developer of first commercial "shirt pocket" calculator


Wyoming Connections


Osborne was named "Outstanding Electrical Engineer" of his class while at UW. He participated in Sigma Nu fraternity.

Osborne was given the UW Distinguished Alumni Award in 1987.

College:
Engineering

Degree:
B.S. Electrical Engineering

Tom Osborne is a former meteorologist for the Strategic Air Command, U.S. Air Force. He co-founded Logic Design and designed and constructed the world's first scientific desktop calculator, the "Green Machine," in 1964.

He also developed computer and calculator products in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard, the most famous of which is the HP35, the first commercial "shirt pocket" calculator, in 1972. Both the "Green Machine" and the HP35 are on display at the Smithsonian Institutution in Washington, D.C.

Osborne holds more than 60 patents and developed the algorithmic state machine (ASM), a technique for designing digital state machines.

He holds an Master's of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley (1962), is a member of Sigma Tau and Phi Kappa Phi honorary fraternities, and is a member of IEEE.

Osborne was inducted into the UW College of Engineering Hall of Fame in 1998.

Photos courtesy of UW Photo Service and American Heritage Center